What does one of the world's most reviled financial schemers
drink to relax? Well before beginning his 150-year sentence in a federal prison
in North Carolina, Bernie Madoff seems to have had a taste for French wines,
good Scotch, and the occasional amaretto. Now that he's behind bars, his liquor
cabinet bounty will go to the highest bidder.
The booze, among the assets that U.S. Marshalls seized from
Madoff's Palm Beach, FL, home in 2009, is being sold by Morrell & Co. Fine
Wine Auctions. Online sales begin today with a live auction on June 4. Proceeds
of the sale will go to compensate victims of Madoff's $65 billion pyramid
scheme. The wine and liquors have been divided into 59 lots, which range from
single bottles to cases of 12.
More from Delish: Prized Bottle of Whisky Auctioned for Almost Half Million Dollars
The most expensive lot in the collection is a 12-bottle case
of 1996 Château Mouton-Rothschild, the bidding for which will begin between
$3,200 and $3,800. A similar case recently went for $8200 at London's
Sotheby's. But despite Madoff's taste for fine real estate, cars, and watches,
his wine cellar and liquor cabinet were less impressive.
"He was clearly not a connoisseur, or a serious wine
collector," Morrell director Kimberly Janis told Bloomberg, which reports that Madoff's
collection includes a mini-bottles of Smirnoff Vodka and Grand Marnier liqueur,
as well as an assortment mid-range wine and spirits.
On its website Morrellacknowledges that Madoff's collection
doesn't live up to the auction house's usual standards. "As artifacts of
history they are unique, which is why we have chosen to offer all of the
bottles seized, including those which normally wouldn't pass muster and make it
into our auction. Some of the bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces
rather than valued for their contents, but conversation pieces they are."
More from Delish: How to Read Wine Labels
Indeed. CNN Money speculates that Madoff used the booze in
his entertaining of potential pyramid scheme victims. The auction is expected
to raise about $15,000 for those victims. At auction in 2009, three of his
powerboats went for just over $1 million and assortment of personal effects,
including his Mets sports jacket and his wife Ruth's diamond earrings were sold
for $900,000.
